12 March 2008

The most important point that can be made about Back Yard IPA is that it is not a West Coast hop bomb. It's not even an East Coast hop bomb, but instead is something closer to a traditional British IPA (not a surprise from this brewery). This is, presumably, one IPA that won't be affected much by rising hop prices.

According to the brewer:

English pale barley malt is predominant in this beer with just a small amount of crystal malt. It is well bittered with Cluster and Cascade hops and finished with a mix of local hop and larger amounts of Fuggle hop.

The malts probably beat out the hops here, and there's slight Ringwood yeastiness as well. To me, it's grain and grass, with a touch of citrus hops coming through at the end. Overall, it's subtle, or maybe just quiet, and doesn't tip it's hand too far in any one direction. I checked the comments at the big review sites, and unsurprisingly, there's a lot of complaining about the low hop content. Judging it by what it tries to be, I think it comes across better, but still isn't essential drinking.